I know right? I was telling my uncle some of the schools my son is looking at and his response to one of them was “but i thought your son was smart?”
UGH! The world has changed! Schools that were “easy” back in the day are not easy now. I know my thoughts of schools from 30 years ago are wrong or - at the very least - need updating. I wish everyone else did too. (Also, I need to get over caring what everyone thinks. I did that pretty well with my older son, but he was applying to schools less familiar to my family/friends/neighbors. Now need to focus on that with my younger boy, who is applying to schools everyone has heard of.)
So on the one hand, I understand those sorts of extraneous factors could play a role in visit impressions. I also understand in general people tend to adapt to their environments anyway.
On the other hand, I know of enough cases where someone wasn’t excited about a college going in, and then it was kind of a disaster. Adaptation failed, or only partially worked, or took a long time. Their grades suffered, or they were simply unhappy and regretted their choice. In some cases they eventually transferred, which is not ideal.
So personally, I would never consider telling my S24 he should attend a college he was not excited about after visiting. Sure, he might have gotten the wrong impression, or he might change his mind with experience. But I do not think it is worth the risk if you have other options you are more excited about.
Of course I also understand this is again dependent on finances. You might have to go with not your most exciting option if it proves unaffordable. But hopefully you can find an affordable option about which you feel really good.
As a parent of a freshman in college, it’s not always that simple. My child has friends who are at their so-called dream schools and aren’t happy. Also plenty of friends who didn’t get into any of their top choices and now love where they wound up.
Op, you did a good job selecting schools as you are choosing between three schools much more similar in size and academic environment than different. I bet you would be successful and happy at any of the three.
Absolutely. I don’t really believe in dream schools at all. They are all just schools.
I just think if possible, you should be excited about all your schools. And that is certainly not a guarantee, but it starts you off as well as you can reasonably hope.
If you can swing it, I would try and attend both admitted student days. W&M (DFAS 4/13) and one of the three experience Richmond open houses. Both schools ended up on my S23’s final 3 (along with Villanova) and I really felt like those events provided a lot of insights that ultimately helped him make his decision. I will say that there was a lot he liked about each school and over final weeks I think he was leaning toward each school at one time or another. Best of luck with the decisions.
I can only comment on Richmond. Our S20 went there for his first two years before transferring out. He mostly had a positive experience at Richmond and made some great life-long friends but was looking for an environment where more of the students were academically engaged. He also felt Richmond was getting too small for him. In terms of seeing the same people everyday and the same walks back and forth through campus. Also Richmond is a self contained campus, you really need a car to go anywhere, this can make the school feel smaller.
As far as Richmond being preppy or cliquey, our son said it is cliquey but everyone seems to find their own groups. He said that students kind of stay in their own group which he didn’t like. Even though they don’t interact that in general everyone is respectful of each other.
Richmond has a program in leadership studies through their Jepson school, that I would definitely suggest lookng into based on your academic interests.